Portable time-stamping mechanism



Nov., 4, 1930.

MORNLNG 1N 7 50AMA5 2a E? E. SALUSTRI AL www@ PORTABLE TIME STAMPING MEGHANISM Filed May 31, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet l Giacomo 5:22115?! A TTORNE Y NOV. 4, 1936. E SALUSTR! El' AL 1,780,770

PORTABLE TIME STAMPING MEGHANISM Filed May 3l, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 NOV, 4, QS., E SALUSTRE EY' AL 1,780,779

PORTABLE TIME STAMPING MEGHANISM Filed May 3l, 1927 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 BY I l..

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' ATTORNEY Nov. 4, 1930. E, SALUSTR; Ei AL PORTABLE TIME STAMPING MECHANISM 5 Sheets-sheet 4 Filed May 3l, 1927 AM O III

Il ILIIIIIUH IN VEN TORS A TTORNE Y N OV. 4, 1930. E, SALUSTRI ET AL 1,780,770

PORTABLE TIME STAMPING MECHANISM Filed May 5l, 1927I 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 AHORA/EY Patented p Nov. 4, 1930 1 UNITED sTA'rEs PATENT OFFICE EMILIO SALUSTRI AND GIACOMO SALUSTRI, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN :PORTABLE TIME-STAMPING MECHANISM Application led May 31, 1927. Serial No. 195,286.

This invention relates to improvements in them to at the instant that pressure of the portable time stamping mechanisms, and is time card against the marking rollers is reprimarily intended for the use of timekeepleased; and wherein the housing is provided ers, foremen and others whose duty it is to internally with supporting means for holding check the time of arrival and departure of the watch so that the latter and the part of 55 men employed in places where it is not feasthe mechanism in the housing which coacts ible to provide an ordinary form of time with it will continue to function together clock, y irrespective of the position of the housing.

It is an object of the invention to provide A further object of the invention is to proa portable time stamping mechanism consistvide a portable time stampin g mechanism in- 60 ing of two cooperating units: one, a watch; cluding a watch wherein normal working and two, a housing in which the watch is comparts are operated in a normal manner; and pletely encased so that the latter cannot'be wherein the watch case is provided with an wound, set, or in any Way tampered with opening therethrough for a dowel sleeve when the' formel' is lOCkGd; 21nd furthe-I' pFS through which a shaft extends that carries a 65 in the housing are provided which COaCt Wlth pinion which cooperates with a gear in the the watch so that marking rollers in the houS- watch, and preferably with a gear therein ing are operated by the watch, and are so that is ordinarily utilized for the normal op placed that time cards may be stamped by eration of the watch.

the mechanism Having thus briefly outlined the major ob- 70 Some of the other objects of the invention jects 0f the invention We will HOW proceed are to provide a portable time stamping to describe an embodiment thereof with the mechanism: wherein the housing is so conaid of the accompanying drawings, in which: stiucted that it may easily be opened and Figure lillustrates a front elevation of the closed by anyone possessing a key for the invention, and 75 i insertion, removal, winding or setting of the Figure 2 a side elevation, partly in section, watch, or for setting the marking rollers; showing a time card in position to be punched.

wherein the housing has a substantially trans- Figure is an enlarged section on the line parent face through which the face of the 3 3 of Figure l. watch can be clearly seen; wherein the hous- Figures 4 and 5 show the interior of the 80 ing has marking rollers so positioned therein two housing portions when detached. that when the former is open the latter may 'Figure 6 is a section on the line 6-6 of be readily set to synchronize with the watch, Figure 7, and or to show the correct day, month, or year; QFigure 7 isga section on the line 7-7 of wherein the housing is provided with a de- Figure 6. 85 pressible portion over the marking rollers so Figui-e8 is an end view of the guide plate, that that portion may be pressed down to the marking rollers supported by it, and part bring a time card into contact with the roll- Of the @Operating mechanism. ers so that a legible record may be made; Figure 9 is an end view of the housing wherein the housing is provided with means showing one form of locking mechanism, the 90 for preventing dirt, grit and foreign matter latter being shown in section. from accumulating in the slot in the housing Figure 10 is a perspective view of a watch. intended for the insertion of time cards to be Figures 11 12, 13, 14 and 15 are reduced stamped; wherein the housing is provided sections on the lines 11-11, 12-12, 13-13, with means for allowing the marking rollers 14`14 and 15-15 of Figure 7. 95 to remain stationery should the mechanism Figure 16 is a perspective view of the yoke, which turns them move during the instant a also reduced. time card is being stamped, and means for Figures 17 and 18 are sections on the lines causing the marking rollers to turn to the 17-17 and 18-18 of Figure 7. positions the mechanism would have moved Referring to the drawings, 1 and 2 desg- 10 nate two portions of a housing adapted to be held together as by the locking member 3, and are so connected at their ends remote from the locking member that when the latter is released the housing portion 2 may be swung outwards from the portion 1, and the hook 5 on the former detached from the opening 6 in the latter. `Moreover the hook and opening are so arranged that no dirt or foreign mattei' can enter when they are in engaging position. Other means for pivotally connecting the housing portions may, however, be employed when desired. The locking member 3, secured to the housing portion 1, is provided with a portionSO which is adapted 4to overlap the margin 4. of the housing portion 2. The latter margin has a lug 83 thereon which, when the lock is in engaging position, is held by a spring actuated dog 82 in the lock. Other-types of locks may however be utilized.

Through slots 7 in the sides of the housing portion 2 spindles 8 are arranged which extend the full width of the housing. 9 designates a. depressible plate through the y inturned sides 10 of which circular openings 11 are provided for the said spindles 8; this depressible plate is normally held in outward position by a spring' 90 secured to the housing portion 2. The inturned sides of the plate are usually slotted at 12 so that they may move on guide pins 13 in the sides of the housing portion 1 and be entirely removed froni the said pins when the housing portion 2 is swung away from the portion 1. On the spindles 8 spools 14 are arranged which extend substantially the full distance between the inturned sides l0 and carry the inking ribbon 15. These spools are usually secured to the spindles as by screws 16 so that the spindles are held against axial movement, and each spool is generally provided with a knurled collar 17 to facilitate turning the rollers to expose unused portions of the inking ribbon. 18 designates guides secured to and extending between the inturned sides 10 of the depressible plate to support the ribbon between the spools. The spring 90 also prevents dirt and other foreign matter entering the opening 91, but must be sufficiently weak that one end of a time card 92 may be inserted into the 'said opening.

In the lower part of the housing portion 1 a guide plate 19 is secured. The latter has guide pins 2() therein which pass through slots 21 in the slide 22 so that the latter is free to move longitudinally on the said plate. The sides 23 of the plate 19 are upturned and support the ends of the main shaft 24, the dog shaft 25 and the rod 26. In the upper part of the housing portion 1 an inner frame 27 is arranged which may be spot welded in position, to this inner frame a longitudinal supporting plate 28 is attached against which the back of the watch case 29 rests. The uporder that it may operate the special mecha nism herein described as well as the ordinary watch parts. The usual spring barrel 35 has an ordinary external gear 36 thereon by which the watch is operated. Through the back of the watch case is an opening 37 which registers with an opening 38 through the supporting plate 28. A dowel sleeve 39 passes through the openings 37 and 38 and has a collar 40 thereon which rests against the side of the supporting plate remote from the watch case. A spindle 41 extends through the dowel sleeve and has a pinion 42 thereon which meshes with the external gear 36. Intermediately of its length the spindle 41 carries a gear 43 and its end remote from the watch case is supported in a bearing 44 which is mounted in the inner frame 27.

A second shaft 45, supported in bearings 46 and 47 mounted in the longitudinal supporting plate 28 and in the inner frame 27 respectively, has a pinion 48 thereon which meshes with the gear 43, and also a cam 49. It will be remembered that usually spring barrels of watches only rotate once every few hours. The arrangement of gearing herein described is provided in order that the roller 50 on the slide 22 shall make one up stroke every five minutes, as it is on the up stroke of the slide that movement is imparted to the marking rollers hereinafter described, and in the embodiment of the invention herein described and shown the minute roller is turned every five minutes. It is obvious however that the gearing may be changed to suit other speeds of rotation of the spring barrel, and to operate the roller 5() at other than five minute intervals.

Hooks or catches 51 are provided on the guide plate 19 .towards itsupper end and other hooks 52 are provided on the sides of the slide 22. A coil spring 53 connects each pair of hooks 51 and 52. These springs tend to hold the roller 50 against the cam 49. In-

tegral with the slide 22 is a forwardly eir-V tending arm 54 having a slot 55 therein. On the main shaft 24 a yoke 56 is pivotally mounted, and supported by end plates 57 integral with the latter is a pawl shaft- 58 which also passes through the slot 55.

On the main shaft 24 a plurali-ty of marking rollers 5 9, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64 and 65 are arranged which are free to turn thereon. The roller 59 has a plurality of numerals around its periphery to indicate the year, and usually consists only of the two last numbers as for instance 37, 38 shown thereon. The rollers 60 and 61 operate together to indicate the day of the month, the roller 60 marking the units and the roller 6l the tens. The roller 62 carries a series of ordinals which indicate the month in the conventional manner 3 denoting March and so 011. The roller 63 carries the letters AM and PM alternately, these are usually placed at frequent intervals around the periphery. The roller 64 shows the minutes, and to simplify the mechanism hereinafter described every live minutes only is shown thereon as for instance 25, 30 and so on. The roller 65 shows the hour and carries the ordinals l to l2 on its periphery. It will be noted that all the letters and numerals on the rollers appear backwards so that when an impression is made the result is legible.

The rollers 60, 6l. 63, 64, and 65 are usually mechanically turned, preferably by the. means hereinafter described, whereas the rollers 59 and 62 are generally' set by hand since they only require setting at such infrequent intervals. Secured to each of the rollers 59 and 62 is a ratchet wheel 59a and 621l respectively, the teeth of which are preferably formed as shown at 62a in Figure 3. On the dog shaft 25 are dogs 59h and 621 each of which is normally held in engagement with the teeth of its ratchet wheel by a spring 59c or 62C secured both to its dog 59b or 62b and also to the rod 26. The tension of these springs is suiiicient for the dogs to hold their rollers against accidental rotary movement. Moreover it will benoted that the teeth 59d and 62d of the ratchet wheels 59a and 62a respectively are so shaped that their dogs hold them against accidental lmovement in either direction.

To the rollers 6l, 63, 64 and 65 ratchet Wheels 61a, 63a, 64 and 65, loosely mounted on the shaft 24, are connected by means hereinafter described, so that the said ratchet wheels will turn their respective rollers when they turn unless pressure is exerted against the periphery of thc rollers to check their rotation, and when this occurs the rollers are turned as their ratchet Wheels would have turned them as soon as 4the peripheral pressure is released. The teeth 6l", 63d, 64d and 65d of these ratchet wheels are so shaped that each ratchet wheel is positively held against rotation in one direction by its dog 61h. 3b. 64h or 65; and these dogs are. in turn. held in engagement with their wheels by springs 6l. 63, 64 and 65C. The ratchet wheels are however free to be turned in the opposite direction by their pawls 61e, 63e, 64e and 65e.

The pawls 61's and 65e are preferably integral with or secured to a cross member 66, and the pawls 63e and 64e are usually integral with, or secured to, a second cross member 66a which is attached, frequently by Welding, to the first named cross member 66. In this manner the pawls are all held together so that they all turn through the same angle. Around the pawl shaft 58 springs 67 are arranged. One end of each spring is fastened under the yoke 56 and the opposite end of each spring bears against the cross member 66. In this manner the pawls are forced towards their ratchet wheels, and one pawl at least is held in engagement with its wheel. The pawls are so formed that their engaging ends are stepped one behind the other. In this way on successive up strokes of the slide 22 the minute marking roller 64 alone is turned. lVhen, however, this roller is turned from 55 to 00 obviously the hour marking roller 65 must also be rotated. The minute roller ratchet wheel 64a is therefore provided with one deep tooth 64D so that the pawls may turn sufiiciently for the pawls 65e to engage and turn its ratchet wheel 65a. Similarly, the hour ratchet wheel 65a is provided with one deeper tooth 65D so that when the marking roller 65 is moved from l1 to l2 the AM and PM roller 68 will also be rotated by engagement of the pawl 63e with its ratchet wheel 63a. Again each alternate tooth 63D of the ratchet wheel 63a is made deeper so that each time when turning from PM to AM the date pawl 6le will engage and turn its ratchet wheel 61a.

As there are an even number of marking dies, namely twelve, on the minute, hour, and AM and PM, rollers, a uniform amount of movement on the part of the ratchet wheels and pawls is required to rotate these rollers so that the next die is in working position. In fact each of these marking rollers must turn through substantially thirty degrees. But as the unit date roller 60 has only ten marking dies on its periphery and as the tens date roller 6l has only four marking dies thereon, and must be turned when the roller 60 moves from 9 to O special means must be provided to take care of their movement.

The ratchet wheel 61a is mounted on a sleeve 68 on the main shaft 24 as hereinafter more fully described. On the sleeve a gear 69 is fixed. Between the marking rollers 6'0 and 61 is an annular plate 72 held stationary by the dog shaft 25, which latter engages the bifurcat-ed lug 8l integral with the said plate 72. Rotatably supported in the plate 72 is a spindle 7l which is substantially parallel with the main shaft 24. The spindle 71 carries a gear 73 which meshes with a gear 74 loosely mounted around the main shaft. On one end of the gear 74 the marking roller 60 is shrunk or otherwise secured. Around a collar 73u infin tegral with the gear 73 a pinion 70 is secured, the latter meshes with a gear 69 lixed on the sleeve 68. In this manner rotary movement of the ratchet wheel 61a through a given angle, usually 30 degrees, imparts a rotary movement through a different angle, usually 36 degrees, to the marking roller 60 through the gears 69, 70, 73 and 74. Integral with the gear 69 is a second gear 75 having only a few teeth on one side of its periphery. Each time the marking roller brings the ordinal 0 into marking position the gear 75 turns the pinion 76 on the spindle 71. thereby causing the gear 77, secured to the said pinion, to turn the gear 78 which is loosely mounted on the sleeve 68. The marking roller 6l is shrunk onto, or otherwise secured to, the end 78 of the gear 78. The gearing 75, 76, 77 and 78 is so proportioned that as the roller 60 is turned from 9 to 0 the roller 6'1 is turned as from l to 2 through approximately 90 degrees.

Mounted in the annular plate 7 2 and projecting laterally on both sides of the latter are pins 85 and 86. Around the pin 85 one on each side of the plate are leaf springs 87 and 88. The opposite ends of these springs bear against the pin 86. Intermediately of their length these springs are flexed substantially at right angles at 87Et and 88a. These flexed portions are adapted to engage recesses 89 and 89n on the inside of the rims of the rollers 60 and 61 respectively, thereby tending to hold these rollers in correct stamping position.

The ratchet wheels 63a, 64a and 65a are provided with pins 63g, 64g and 65g which extend substantially parallel with their axes. In the sides of the marking rollers 63, 64 and adjacent to their ratchet wheels are segmental slots 63, 64k` and 65k into which the said lpins project. Springs 63, 64 and 65 are secured at one end to their respective pins and at their opposite ends to the said marking rollers. If peripheral pressure 1s being exerted on the rollers at the time that the ratchet wheels are to be turned the pins 63g, 64g and 65g turn in their respective slots and the springs 63, 64 and 65n are stretched. As soon as pressure on the rollers is released the springs cause them to rotate until the ends of the segmental slots strike the pins, and then the next die on the periphery of each marking roller 1s in stamping position. In the case of the ratchet wheel 6la the operation is the same except that the pin 61g moves in a slot 6'1k on the periphery of the disc 68a integral. with the sleeve 68. In that case the spring 61 1s secured both tothe pin 61g and also to the disc 68a.

95 designates an indicating cypher held between the plates 96 and 97 fixed around the shaft 24 to show which time stamping mechanism a time card was punched with.

From the fore oing it is believed that the operation of the evice will be readily understood. Moreover while the preferred construction has been described and shown it is understood that the construction is susceptible to such modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims.

What we 'claim as our invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. In a time stamp, the combination of a stationary guide plate, bearing brackets on said plate, a main shaft supported by said brackets, a plurality of type-rollers and ratchets loose on said main shaft, means for yieldingly connecting each ratchet with one of said rollers to permit limited circumferential movement, a. holding dog and an actuating pawl for each ratchet, a common pivoted support for said pawls, said pawls being rigidly secured on said support in stepped relation whereby normally at least one pawl engages its associated ratchet, said ratchets having notches of variable depth to permit successive engagement of said pawls upon predeternxined rotation of the adjacent ratchet, a clockwork controlled slide having upstanding slotted lugs on said guide plate adapted to operate said pawl carrying support, and a shaft oscillatable about said main shaft and carrying said support and extending through 9 necting each ratchet with one of said rollers,

said means being adapted to permit limited clrcumferential movement of said rollers relative to their associated ratchets, a holding dog and an actuating pawl for each ratchet, a common pivoted support for said pawls, means engaging said support for yieldingly urging said pawls toward said ratchets, clockwork controlled means for actuating said support, said pawls being rigidly secured on said support in stepped relation, whereby at least one pawl engages its associated ratchet, said ratchets having notches of variable depth to permit successive engagement of said pawls after predetermined rotation of an adjacent ratchet, a rotatable member on said main shaft connected with one of said ratchets by yielding connected mea-ns, and a ratchets loose on said main shaft, means for yieldingly connecting each ratchet with one of said rollers to ermit limited circumferential movement, a olding dog and an actuating pawl for each ratchet, a common pivoted support for said pawls, said pawls being rigidly secured on said support in stepped re ation whereby normally at least one pawl engages its associated ratchet, said ratchets having notches of Variable de th to permit successive engagement of said) pawls upon predetermine rotation of the adjacent ratchet, a clockwork controlled slide on said guide plate adapted to oscillate said pawl carrying support, a rotatable member on said main shaft connected yieldingly with one of said ratchets to permit limited relative rotation, a stationary member adjacent the typeroller ertaining to said last named ratchet, gears etween said rotatable member and said type-roller adapted to rotate the latter With a dilerent speed than that of the ratchet, one of said gears being supported on a shaft secured on said stationary member, and yielding means on said stationary member adapted to engage said last named type roller, for maintaining the latter in a plurality of operating positions.

EMILIO SALUSTRI. GIACOMO SALUSTRI. 

